>> stay with us. "news4 today" continues right now at 5:00 a.m. >> the sixth win in a row for the redskins. does it all come down to win number seven? we'll break down what the reds must do to make it to the playoffs. >> good morning. welcome to "news4 today." it's christmas eve, monday december 24th, 2012. just one more day until christmas. can you believe us? some of you like us may be headed to work early or have last-minute shopping to do. things appear to be dry but changes are on the way. >> tom kierein is here with details. >> also travel. a lot of people heading out of town today right now starting off if you are about to head out the door, no travel problems weatherwise. it's cold. clouds now drifting over the region and if you are heading off to the south you'll be driving into rain if you are heading into the carolinas or

toward tennessee and kentucky. and farther west heading due west later today you may be driving into some wintry precipitation. right now getting some rain down in tennessee, southwestern virginia and kentucky. ahead of that under the clouds we have temperatures cold. we're in the 20s to right around the freezing mark in washington and the nearby suburbs. right near the bay it's a little bit above freezing but away from waters below freezing. into the shenandoah valley and mountains, most locations in the 20s. in fact, even colder. east of the mountains we don't have any weather advisories but there is one out for western maryland and into west virginia. a combination maybe of some icing and some maybe light snow there later today. if you are heading west, you may be running into that later today and for the metro area a cold, calm dry morning and then by noontime might get a little bit of snow and sleet perhaps to our

west and north otherwise light rain moving into the metro area and maybe a little bit of sleet mixing in with some rain western northern suburbs mid afternoon and all rain after that and we'll be hovering near 40 degrees during the afternoon. a look at christmas eve in ten minutes. mike is in for danella with traffic. >> things are looking good right now on the interstates this early morning commute. no serious problems to report. let's take a look at 270 south in maryland and no serious problems right now as you make the trip. southbound side on the right side of the screen and you're also looking great right now if you plan on taking mass transit. no delays on metro, virginia railway express or the marc trains. >> update on breaking news out of afghanistan. the international service assistance force confirming to nbc news that the american killed in kabul, afghanistan, by a woman wearing an afghan police uniform was in fact an isaf civilian employee.

this happened at the kabul police headquarters. police have not said if the shooting was intentional or accidental. >> a republican senator is accepting responsibility for his drunk driving arrest over the weekend. police in alexandria arrested idaho senator michael crapo early yesterday morning. officers pulled him over for running a red light. he failed field sobriety test. his blood alcohol content was .11 above the legal limit in virginia. crapo who is mormon says he's sorry for what he calls a mistake and is due in court next month. >> three minutes after the hour. most federal employees will have the day off from work this christmas eve. president obama made that announcement on friday. last-minute shoppers can use metro to get around today. metro operating on its regular weekday service today. trains will run until midnight tonight. tomorrow trains and buses will operate on a sunday schedule. that's from 7:00 a.m. until midnight. >> let the last-minute holiday shopping rush begin. shoppers now have less than 24 hours to finish up buying

whatever they need and it's sure to be a hectic day. news4's melissa mollet is live with a preview of the shopping madness. good morning, melissa. >> reporter: it's the night before christmas and time for you procrastinators like myself included here this morning to get out and get the shopping wrapped up by tomorrow. lots of stores are opening early but some stores like macy's, toys "r" us, have been open for several days straight. now, if you still want to find those must haves online, there are some stores like best buy offering same day pickup. you can find it online today. then go get it before they close at 5:00 tonight. according to consumer reports, 17 million people will plan to shop on this christmas eve. deep discounts and serious sale customers in. overall projections are down a bit. many experts saying superstorm sandy slowed sales and now all of the talk about a fiscal cliff of course is making customers

nervous. still sales this holiday season on track to top $586 billion. that is a lot of stuff to be purchased. live in alexandria, virginia, melissa mollet, news4. back to you. happy shopping if you head out today. >> thank you. we'll need the good luck. thanks, melissa. >>. >> here's a christmas present for you. the redskins are officially on a role. the skins took on the eagles and rg3 missed last week's game with the knee injury. didn't have trouble throwing for two touchdowns. in was defense that made the difference making a stop with less than ten seconds left in the game. this win puts the redskins at 9-6 on the season leading nfc east with a chance to clinch the division next week against the cowboys. if the redskins win, they take the division. if the cowboys win, they capture the title. the two square off sunday nit

right here on nbc 4. 8:20 is your kickoff. a lot of folks will be sort of trying to get into the new year with a big win from the redskins. >> it's definitely going to feel like a playoff atmosphere from here on out. and even yesterday walking around the malls, people were just -- everythi conversation i heard was redskins or cowboys and people sporting redskins gear. ever since shanahan mentioned it's time to evaluate, things have taken off. they haven't looked back. >> light a fire under people just like that. 5:06 is our time. >> tracking santa. the high tech tools being used to track old st. nick's every room. >> when rain and some places sleet is expected to move into the

>> the game was awesome. rg3 was on top of his game. >> i love rg3. he's a player. he's an athlete. he makes the rest of the redskins be better. >> no doubt. they are on a roll. they got a quarterback this year and they're playing like a team. >> playoffs! >> beat dallas. >> a lot of excited fans ready for dallas next week. >> bring it on. forget st. nick.

we have st. rg3, right? it's finally christmas eve. once again this year you can track st. nick's progress. this santa tracker has been set up. santa is preparing for his launch. this is video from his trip around the world last year. they promise up to the minute reports and even pictures from key stops on santa's trip and we'll have a link for you on our website, nbcwashington.com. it's great because as tom mentioned, they have radar now. rudolph has radar in his nose so he can't get lost. >> gps these days. everybody has gps to get around. >> and santa uses an ipad to check off his list apparently. 11 minutes after 5:00. we take a live look at tom kierein with the forecast. >> good morning. starting off this christmas eve morning this monday morning with a lot of clouds. cloud cover over us. no precipitation. pavement is dry. shouldn't have any travel problems weatherwise around the

region. if you are heading south, you may run into rain in the carolinas and down toward kentucky and tennessee. right now a lot of low clouds around. it's cold. we are at or below freezing around most of the region except right near the waters and shenandoah valley and mountains many areas down into the 20s as well. now here's how we look hour by hour throughout the day today. a cold, calm morning. 7:00 a.m. still below freezing and cloudy. maybe sunshine breaking out around 8:00 or 9:00 and then clouding up by noontime. wet snow. maybe sleet mixing in with some rain. areas west to north shenandoah valley may get sleet. as we get into middle of the afternoon, we'll reach the perhaps low 40s and changing to all rain most of the region and then rain off and on this christmas eve ending by midni t

midnight. >> not a lot to report for your christmas eve commute. things are looking good on all major interstates. no serious problems on the beltway on 50 you are looking good in each direction. let's take a live look at 202. no serious problems. it's about a seven-minute ride on route 50 westbound from 301 to the beltway. hov restrictions are in effect on route 50 but lifted on all other major interstates. right now it's 5:12. ahead on "news4 today," the death of a navy s.e.a.l. and the sad circumstances surrounding the incident. tagg romney talking about his father's run for president. we'll tell you what h

in 90 seconds why a well kn

coming up on 5:16. an investigation is under way into an apparent suicide of an elite navy s.e.a.l. commander in afghanistan. 42-year-old commander job price died on saturday. his unit was based in virginia beach. price was the commanding officer of s.e.a.l. team four assisting in training of afghan police officers. a military official told cnn there's no indication price was involved in any investigation or controversy. he's survived by his wife and daughter. a formal good-bye for the late senator daniel inouye buried at the national memorial cemetery of the pacific yesterday. president obama and harry reid were there for a service. inouye was the second longest serving senator in u.s. history. he represented the state of hawaii for nearly 55 years. the 88 year old died of

respiratory complications last monday. mitt romney's own son sad his dad didn't want to run for president. tagg romney said he wanted to be president less than anyone i met in my life. he would have been happy to step aside if someone else would have taken his place. tagg worked as an adviser on his 2012 campaign and worked with other campaigns. a grim assessment to avoid the fiscal cliff. some lawmakers say they feel for the first time a deal may not get done by the end of the year. congress is not expected to return to work until thursday. the same goes for president obama who will spend christmas in hawaii. that leaves them five days to get a deal done to avoid steep tax hikes and big-time spending cuts. senators on both sides of the aisle say both parties need to compromise to avoid a potential economic disaster. >> my one bit of advice to speaker boehner is this. you cannot pass a bill with just republicans on a broad thing

like this, you need both. >> ronald reagan model is if you get 80% of what you want that's a good day. we have the same objective of lower taxes. i like simpson-bowles. put money on the debt. tax rate hikes are partisan solution driven by the president but he's going to get tax rate hikes. >> lawmakers say they are preparing to spend new year's eve on capitol hill. >> one of the survivors in the oregon mall shooting is speaking out for the first time. the 15 year old was shot december 11th. she was walking through the mall and says the gunman walked right past her carrying what she thought was a paintball gun. seconds later bullets started flying and she was hit multiple times. the doctors were able to save her. >> i know that god has his eyes on us. he has angels on everybody's shoulders. and he's especially watching out

for my family. >> it appears christina might have nine lives. she also survived a serious car accident earlier this year. the second victim of a shooting in northeast d.c. has died. police say 69-year-old nathaniel beasley jr. died. the shooting also killed 44-year-old raymond harris. harris was found lying in the road nearby and pronounced dead at the scene. police are offering a $25,000 reward for information to help solve the case. the catastrophe killed more than 226,000 people and more than 50,000 bodies have never been recovered. thailand will mark the eighth anniversary with a vigil. since the disaster hit in 2004, millions of dollars have been allocated to a network of seismic and tsunami centers.

we want to show you video. parts of california will have a white christmas out there. a really white christmas in some places. look at this video from the sierra, nevada. pounded with snow all weekend long. poor driving conditions as a result. snow shut down vital interstate 80 that forced travelers to detour. the snow turned to rain in other areas prompting flash flood warnings in sonoma and santa cruz. >> a lot of that oil builds up on the roadways so when it does come down like that, it really makes for slick conditions. >> turns into a big problem for sure. >> very big mess. around here wintry action for us. >> a look outside this morning. nothing to see right now. tom says things could change relatively soon, right, tom? >> by later this morning we could get wintry precipitation but right now it's all dry. we have clouds passing over us. by the way the storm out west in

california, there's some flight delays around san francisco if you plan on heading there or anyone leaving from there. right now low clouds around the metro area and most of maryland and virginia. a few breaks in the clouds here in the panhandle of west virginia and down in southern shenandoah valley. we have some rain now beginning to show up in southwestern virginia, kentucky, tennessee, the carolinas heading that way you'll drive into rain. it's all above freezing there. closer to us it's below freezing. all of these areas in the dark blue are in the 20s and that includes most of virginia, most of maryland except near the waters. reagan national is at 32. 20 degrees to upper teens in a few locations. roanoke getting rain and 42. this warmer air will begin to move in here by later today. as it does move in, these areas out of the mountains could get an inch of snow and maybe some freezing rain. western maryland and out into eastern west virginia. east of there we could get a little bit of a wet snow and perhaps a little bit of sleet around noontime early afternoon changing to rain by late

afternoon into the evening hours. all areas should be getting some rain, some chilly rain. hovering near 40 degrees through the afternoon. by dawn on christmas day, might have sun in the mid 30s and partly sunny during the afternoon tomorrow into the upper 40s. and then tomorrow night clouds return and another weak system coming our way giving us again maybe a little bit of sleet and snow in the morning into the afternoon hours changing to all rain. highs reaching near 40 degrees. does not look like a big storm. and then on thursday. partly sunny. 30s in the morning. afternoon highs upper 40s. a look at friday into the weekend, partly cloudy friday. upper 20s in the morning. afternoon highs 40s. another wintry mix storm on saturday. stay tuned. a look at traffic now with mike. >> things are looking good out there for your christmas eve commute. for reports of any serious accidents on the beltway. let's look at sunset hills. not a lot of headlights in the

view. things are looking great right there. no serious delays. seven-minute ride from hunter mill road to the beltway at 52 miles an hour. also looking good right now at the interchange. no serious backups to worry about. 13-minute right on the beltway from the dulles toll road to the interchange at 55 miles an hour. aaron, angie? >> thank you, mike. a fixture on the potomac river since the 1940s could be closing. jack's boathouse has been renting canoes for decades. the national park service owns that land and notified the tenant he had to vacate by the end of january. he says he's begun the process of notifying boat owners and 27 employees that will be terminated. >> everything had to be out in 30 days. >> we called the park service for comment but they have not returned our calls. fans of jack's boathouse started a facebook page to try to save the landmark.

the mars rover curiosity is about to do something never done before on the red plant. the rover will descend into a ditch and start searching for rocks to drill. right now curiosity is scouring that ditch known as yellow knife bay providing information to nasa back here on earth. it's also the rover can collect a drilled sample to analyze which will be the first for this mission. santa we know is a very busy guy traveling around the world delivering presents to the boys and girls but did you know he uses an ipad to keep track of everyone on his nice and naughty list. nbc's lester holt talked to kids and learned things about st. nick. >> what can we do to help santa have an easier time? >> instead of reindeer pulling the sled, you can do dragons. >> one big dragon and then a lot of reindeer. >> a dragon and a bunch of

reindeer. >> a baby dragon. of course. >> he could put a lounge in his place in the north pole. >> what would he do in that lounge? >> get massages. have a bunch of hot tubs. >> i don't think there's anything santa could do differently. his reindeer are very fast. >> faster than a jet plane? >> do you think a jet plane could make it around the world all in one night? answer me that question. >> would you want to go along? >> yes. >> the sleigh goes pretty fast. you wouldn't be afraid? >> no. >> how come? >> because i'm not scared of anything. >> how does he keep track of the names? does he write them down? >> he uses an ipad. he types what house number and then the name appears up on the ipad. >> is there a special santa app

that he uses? >> yes. special santa app. >> what would you tell santa about making sure he has enough things for his trip? what would you tell him to bring with him? >> three lollipops, seven oranges and nine pickles. >> hand lotion. >> extra boots. another jacket. >> that would be good. >> he gives us presents. >> no, avery. put that back. >> do you think he should maybe take vacation after christmas? >> yes. >> he needs break afterwards? >> yeah. >> he could go to the beach but he would have wear different clothes because he wouldn't want everyone saying do you want my autograph. can you talk my autograph. >> avery, stop playing with the

presents. you know we're going to be on the news, right? >> santa claus going to watch this? >> i don't know. does he have cable in the north pole? >> yes. >> then he will definitely see this. >> i heard santa actually has sling box in the north pole. >> i have no clue what that is. that's sad for me. >> you can take the box with you and watch your tv that you're used to from anywhere. say you went to south carolina right now. you could watch the show right now live. >> okay. i bet the kids knew that too. sorry. 5:27 is our time right now. coming up on both sides of the gun control debate, the head of the nra finally taking questions but is he backing off controversial remarks about schools. why you should not be surprised if you come down with a headache in the next few days. >> tom kierein also back with when we could see the first

raindrops today.

looking at the stories making headlines. the redskins outlasted the philadelphia eagles winning a thriller 27-20. if they beat the cowboys on sunday, the redskins take the division. senator michael crapo apologizing for a drunk driving

arrest. police in alexandria arrested the republican from idaho yesterday morning. time is running ute for holiday shoppers. 130 million people have not finished their shopping this morning. and a whopping 26 million people haven't even started yet. that is so hard to believe. we're going to have much more on those stories throughout this monday morning. first off, good morning to you. i'm angie goff. >> i'm aaron gilchrist. welcome back to "news4 today" on this monday, december 24th. it's christmas eve in the nation's capital. a live look outside right now. 39 chilly degrees for us. no rain falling just yet this morning. >> we could see something. you might want to carry that umbrella and here to tell us more is meteorologist tom kierein. >> good morning. there's capitol hill. that's a live view from our city camera on this christmas eve morning right now reagan national is right at the freezing mark. and elsewhere it's a little above freezing near the waters and around the bay. we have a lot of cloudiness. this cloud cover has been with us here overnight. a little bit of that moon low on

the western sky trying to shine through the high overcast. a few breaks in the clouds over central shenandoah valley. sprinkles of rain southern virginia, the carolinas, kentucky, tennessee. that is coming into some colder air so as it does approach us later today we may have a little bit of a wintry mix later this morning around the areas west and north of washington. right now it's all in the 20s. most of the region from west virginia all of the way to the atlantic shore except right near the waters is generally a little above freezing there. we do have a winter weather advisory and freezing rain advisory for some icing and maybe a little bit of snow in the mountains of western maryland. highlands in west virginia. east of there we may get a little bit of a mix of that. perhaps by late morning and around noontime a little wet snow maybe a few wet snowflakes and sleet areas coming through and changing to rain after that. much of the region during the afternoon and hovering near 40 degrees. a look at tonight in ten minutes. a look at traffic now.

>> christmas eve and interstates are looking good. no reports of issues on the beltway. in maryland interstates are looking great. things are moving at speed at 55 miles an hour on southbound bw parkway to 495. let's look at 95 in maryland southbound side is on the right side of the screen. 198 things are moving at speed ten-minute ride from 216 to the beltway at 64 miles an hour. aaron, angie? the head of nra is calling the proposed assault weapons ban a phony piece of legislation. ceo wayne lapierre insists his organization will not support any new gun regulations even after the tragedy at sandy hook elementary school. nbc's danielle lee is live on capitol hill with more. good morning, danielle. >> reporter: good morning. the leader of the national rifle association wayne lapierre sticking to his position just days after calling for armed guards in all schools. lawmakers are talking about a possible assault weapons ban and

even ammunition limits but he says neither will help prevent a shooting like the one we saw in newtown from happening again. now, the national rifle association has been accused of being out of touch with america even by supporters. lapierre says he believes he's offering a solution that america wants. >> if it's crazy to call for putting police and armed security in our school to protect our children, than call me crazy. i tell you what the american people -- i think the american people think it's crazy not to do it. it's the one thing that would keep people safe and the nra is going to try to do that. >> reporter: lawmakers have acknowledged that putting armed guards in schools could be a piece of a solution, a solution they say is complex. they are divided on exactly where to go. one area where most agree is that the mental health care component needs to be addressed. reporting live in washington, i'm danielle lee. back to you. >> thanks. the debate over gun control was evident throughout the

washington area this weekend. a small but vocal group of gun control advocates showed up outside a gun shop in falls church calling for a ban on assault style weapons and ammunition and more funding for mental health programs. the nra's push to put armed guards in schools across the country had people talking. >> i would not have felt safer. i would have felt more in harm's way. i don't agree with guns in general. >> it's dumbfounding to think the answer to violence is to put the weapons of more violence in the hands of people. >> police were present at the protest although it did remain peaceful. one community in north carolina is starting a new tradition in honor of the victims from sandy hook. people living in holly spring held a lighting last night with 26 lit bags out of their homes to honor the 26 victims.

a nativity scene now has a new home. the display is now on the lawn of the leesburg presbyterian churn. there were questions as to whether the scene should be in front of a government building. the county board of supervisors removed the display and replaced it with a christmas tree, a menorah and a santa claus. down to one game for the crown after a thrilling win over the eagles the redskins are ready to take on a winner take all matchup against the hated cowboys. dan hellie has more from philly where team is prepping for dallas. >> reporter: the redskins did exactly what they needed to do. improving to 9-6 on the year in position to win their first division title since 1999. obviously everybody pleased with the win over the eagles but everybody after the game talking about that the big regular season finale coming up against the cowboys. >> i was thinking about that

since the clock said 00 and referee threw the flag, let's get the cowboys. go have fun and take the division. it's a different situation to be in. i'm happy. i'm excited. we'll see what happens. >> reporter: how long was it after the game was over when you were thinking about the cowboys? >> walking off the field. this is about having something to play for. to win the division. been here going on five years now, to finally have something to play for at this point in the season is very exciting. >> i will probably think about the cowboys after we land. i think that's everybody's mindset. we're already onto the next one. you don't have to celebrate wins at this point in the season. you just know what's ahead of you and all that is for us right now is the cowboys. >> they know what it means. we've been working for this opportunity to win the division. we talked about that from day one. they knew what we had to do to get there. i told them we haven't accomplished anything yet. we have to win the division and obviously get it done next week.

>> reporter: somehow some way mike shanahan has these guys believing. all they have to do is beat the cowboys on sunday. from philly, dan hellie, news4 sports. >> since this is such a big deal. the nfl changed the time of sunday's regular season finale between the skins and cowboys. kickoff set for 8:20 sunday night. the final game of the 2012 regular season. you can watch the redskins take on dallas on sunday right here on nbc 4. feels good to know the division title really is within reach. right there. >> it's been a long time. >> it would be great to beat those cowboys. have to get that out. daughter of a cowboy fan. 5:38 right now. coming up, an update on a search for a missing police dog. a winter weather advisory. what areas could see a wintry mix and who will just get a cold rain. stay with us

"and what's your name?" "oh, it's flo." "and what do you do?" "oh, i sell insurance like no one else." "oh, that's nice." "thank you." now, that's progressive. call or click today. it is 5:41. time for weather and traffic on the 1s. >> some of us are hoping for a white christmas. none of that right now.

that could change. >> tom kierein is here with details. >> time for weather and traffic on the 1s early on a this christmas eve morning if you are about to head out the door, plan on doing some driving around the region. you should not have any travel problems weatherwise. we have dry pavement. cloud cover over us. a few breaks in the clouds to our west. a little bit of that moon at nearly full moon showing through overcast and we have this little patch of dry air that will pass over us in the next couple hours. sun around dawn. temperatures are cold below freezing. most of the region up near the bay waters but away from the bay we are in the 20s. and shenandoah valley into the mountains most locations in the 20s. a few spots further west are only in the upper teens to near 20 degrees. later today we'll have a high reaching maybe near 40 by noontime and during the afternoon. precipitation moving in as a few wet snowflakes and sleet and changing to rain early afternoon and all rain after that into this evening for this christmas

eve looks like rain likely ending by midnight. a look at the rest of the week, seven-day outlook in ten minutes. good morning, mike. >> things are looking good right now on major interstates for the christmas eve commute. no serious problems on northbound 95 making the trip toward the beltway right now. no serious backups. it's about a 13 minute right on northbound 95 from prince william parkway to the beltway at 56 miles an hour. aaron, angie? >> thanks, mike. 5:43 is our time right now. celebrating christmas around the world including the pope's message this holiday season. holiday tipping. who you should include and how much you should give. stay with us.

new this morning, d.c. police are investigating a deadly shooting on capitol hill. we're told the victim was found shot to death inside his vehicle along c street northeast at 2:00 this morning. so far no arrests have been made and police have not released a motive in this case. 13 before the hour. the pope will spend this christmas eve with his brother before conducting the annual midnight mass at st. peter's basilic basilica. he offered greetings to a number of worshippers in st. peter's square and asked them to look beyond the materialistic side of christmas and offered a blessing in spanish as well. another busy day at airports as travelers head home for the holidays. news4's seth lemon is live at reagan national. is it packed yet? >> reporter: we've seen a steady flow of travelers so far but it's not packed just yet. people seem to be making their

way through the airport problem free. if you look across the flight boards, the flights seem to be pretty much on time everywhere. the only problems that we're seeing are pretty much in the pacific after that storm drenched northern california early sunday. we're seeing minor delays for flights headed to san francisco but right now at reagan national i'm happy to report that all flights are on time. now aaa predicts 93 million people will travel 50 miles away from their homes this holiday season. that's an increase from last year. even with all of those people traveling this year, i'm happy to be the bearer of good news this christmas eve morning that everything seems to be running smoothly here at the airport. reporting live from reagan national, seth lemon, news4. >> thank you, seth. a relief project called train of hope is setting up to help those still suffering from hurricane sandy. volunteers in new orleans gathered to load an amtrak train with boxes full of diapers, shoes and blankets. this is the second run of donations for hurricane sandy victims collected by residents and firefighters who survived hurricane katrina.

in addition to basic suppliies the group added toys and stuffed animals. >> lost a lot of possessions. he lost all his toys. it feels good to be on the receiving end. >> especially during the holidays we know there's a financial strain for the parents and we wanted to make sure that the children of the storm were still able to celebrate. >> so far the project has raised more than half a million dollars in donations. a happy ending to a story we first told you about friday. bronco the canine with the loudoun county sheriff's office was found. neighbors in the hamilton area spotted him yesterday morning and they found him nine miles from the leesburg groomer where he escaped on friday. bronco was checked out by a vet and appears to be in good health. a heads-up for android

smartphone users. an app offering free games contains a hidden program that sends out spam text messages. the program also blocks incoming texts from people not in your contact list so strangers can't text you back saying that it's spam. android has seen a 350% increase in malicious apps in the past year. holidays can be a headache literally. researchers at georgetown say adults are more prone to headaches this time of year. they point to a change in schedules, eating and drinking habits and an increase in responsibilities as the reasons for the change. to prevent that, doctors say get plenty of rest, have a glass of water for every alcoholic beverage you consume and if you can't swim in gym time, try neck stretches and hot showers to ease muscle tension. >> sounds good. it's a stressful time. >> relax. >> limit the holiday parties. >> no. >> just saying. speaking of the holidays, a lot of people for christmas eve are deciding to head out to

church this evening. will they need that umbrella? tom kierein is here to let us know. >> it does look like it. if you plan on traveling today, a lot of people will head out and hit the roads this morning. here's how things are looking over the last 12 hours off to a cloudy start. you don't have any travel problems here locally heading toward new england or up toward detroit, cleveland, pittsburgh, chicago, but if you are heading south and southwest of the metro area, you will be heading into rain. that area of rain in the carolinas southwestern virginia into kentucky and tennessee is going to be getting closer to us late this morning and during the afternoon. ahead of that it's cold. all of the areas in dark blue are below freezing in the 20s to around the freezining mark arou the metro area. out in the mountains many locations there are only near 20 degrees this morning. and that zone, this area in lavender, is the zone where we could get a mix of wet snow and sleet as the precipitation pushes in as of noon.

and then by early to mid afternoon this is by 2:00, 3:00 this afternoon, areas north and west of interstate 95 could have a mix of wet snow and sleet and it does look like that would mix with rain and change over to all rain. the rest of the afternoon into the evening and quickly ending after midnight tonight. and then during the day on christmas day, partly sunny. another storm coming in from the south and west although this one looks like it will have more moisture with it. a similar pattern beginning as some wet snow shenandoah valley with sleet out in the mountains and the wet snow there. and then into the metro area during the rest of the day north and west of wednesday could get some wet snow and sleet and then changing to all rain throughout most of the region during the afternoon on wednesday. here's how we look for our region today. don't have any travel problems unless you are heading out toward the west out into the mountains there is a freezing rain and winter weather advisory for icing and an inch of snow. farther to the east maybe a few wet snowflakes around noontime and maybe a little bit of sleet mixing with rain and elsewhere

changing to all rain from sleet by mid to late afternoon and hovering near 40 degrees and overnight tonight all of that ending after midnight. christmas day, partly sunny into the 40s and then that storm coming through with that mix changing to rain on wednesday. thursday, friday looking dry. another mixed storm on saturday. stay tuned. i'm back in ten minutes. mike is in for danella this morning. >> things are looking good right now for your christmas eve commute. no reports of serious problems on the interstates. bridges looking good on the american legion bridge and 14th street bridge no serious backups there and on the keybridge things are looking great and let's look in the district on pennsylvania avenue. everything is looking fine right now in each direction. angie? >> thanks, mike. "the hobbit" continues to score big at the box office. it was the top grossing movie

for the second straight weekend. it brought in more than $36 million. that's more than twice what tom cruise's new action thriller made in its debut. now the comedy "this is 40" finished third and "rise of the gua guardians" came in fourth. shoppers now have less than 24 hours to finish up buying whatever you got to buy. cnbc is live with more. >> reporter: shoppers filled the malls and stores on the final weekend before christmas but many people may not have been filled with holiday spirit.

research group npd says customer traffic was in line with last year but consumers were spending less. a combination of factors may be weighing on their minds including the tax impact of the fiscal cliff, the continued after effects of hurricane sandy. 'tis the season for giving but many charities aren't on the receiving end. individual donations the single biggest source of revenue for most charities are also down as are big gifts from endowments. the u.s. million dollar list which tracks large donations has found many big gifts have declined for five straight years from 43 billion in 2007 to just 11 billion this year. that's it for us. back over to you. 60% of people say tipping is part of their holiday tradition according to consumer reports. most people say they tip whoever delivers the newspaper,

mechanic, the hairdresser and mailman. some find a gift for a holiday teacher. who's the least tipped? >> the least tipped by the way were garbage collectors. only 10% of people said they tipped their garbage collectors. >> a tip doesn't have to be a monetary gift. just a sincere thanks will do. she suggests saying thanks to police officers, firemen and medics this holiday season. later today santa claus is ditching the sleigh and heading for water skis. today is the 27th annual santa ride on the river at national harbor. this is video of last year's event. his knee boarding reindeer will appear with him as well. couldn't have santa without the reindeer and appearances by flying elves and jet skiing grinch. families can check out the massive 65-foot christmas tree. more than 200,000 lights there. santa is set to take off on the water around 1:00 this

afternoon. there's a city in northern portugal that could be home to the world's largest santa claus illuminated by 250,000 l.e.d. lights took 17 trucks, two cranes and eight days to mount the structure. construction took three years in total. this massive santa will light the city until january 7th. >> that's really just so cool. >> pretty awesome sight for sure. >> we need one of those in washington. >> set him next to lincoln. >> lincoln and jefferson memorial. nice crossing the bridge. straight ahead on "news4 today" at 6:00, a longtime u.s. senator apologizing this morning after being arrested in northern virginia. also ahead, a look at what's in store for all of you who really did wait until the last minute to get the holiday shopping done. cold temperatures now but winter weather is moving into our region today. the impact it could have on your holiday plans ahead with weather and traffic on the 1s when "news4 today" continues.

with a message to all of you procrastinators out there, time is almost out if you still need to get that holiday shopping done. what you can expect as you head out to the stores. looking to the